King of Hearts

17.

When Val arrives at the palace, Carmen already awaits her in front of her office. Barely greeting her, Carmen names all the tasks she must complete. Still unmotivated, Val gets to work, nonetheless.

Val bumps into Prince Ulio quite a few times during the forenoon and each time worsens her mood. He even has the audacity to either wink or remind her of the tea party this afternoon.

"Are you looking forward to this afternoon, honey?" The Prince flashes her an arrogant smile as Val walks past him. She does her best to remain composed and unbothered. He does it on purpose, he just wants to annoy her. She's not going to please him with a response therefore she decides to simply ignore him. However, Prince Ulio is persistent.

"As you already know there are also going to be some friends of mine. Please, make sure not to embarrass me. Don't make a fool of yourself as you usually do." He gives her a pitiful look.

"You're embarrassing on your own, you don't need my help for it." Val curses at herself for not controlling herself. She's irritated and that's exactly what he wants.

Prince Ulio glares at her but soon he flashes a confident smile. "We'll see. See you later, love." With that, he leaves. Val tries to stab him with her look, but he continues strutting like he is the world's savior. For sadly only a moment, he stumbles but immediately regains himself, not looking back at Val. She wishes he would've at least broken a leg.

Val imagines herself spilling tremendously hot tea over him. Or maybe she can saw the legs of his chair. While thinking about other possibilities to humiliate that arrogant fool, she proceeds with her work.

                                                                      ----

"What do you mean, you have never served a table? Ugh, you're helpless", Carmen yells. Of course, Val has never served a table. She has never worked before and thinks it's pretty unfair that no one will teach her. "I didn't ask for it. If I could, I would let someone replace me", Val says crossing her arms. "No, it's too late for that. You are going to serve at the tea party. I only hope you are not going to mess it up, that would be outrageous. Where are you even from?" Carmen sharply examines her.

Oh no, has she looked through her? Val tries to sound as convincing as possible. "I come from a small village, far away." That isn't even a lie. Carmen strictly looks her up and down. "I can tell. What lady your age doesn't know how to serve tea. Ugh, I don't even want to think about it. Here, take this. And tie your hair up, for Sun's sake." She throws Val a pastel pink and red dress over.

Val hasn't even got the time to further examine the clothing as she gets shoved out of Carmen's office. She needs to hurry. Thankfully, this time she knows the way to her quarters where she can get ready for this thrilling event, so it will take less.

Once Val is in her room, she puts the dress on and judges her reflection in the mirror. The dress is mainly pastel pink, puffy short sleeves, tight on the waist, and the skirt is flared reaching an inch above her knees. It has a pretty lace blood-red collar, and it comes with a white flared apron with deep red embroidery sewn onto it. Val is impressed, she wishes that was the usual maid's uniform.

She gathers her long raven hair in a bun and takes one last look in the mirror. She likes what she sees. What is Prince Ulio's reaction going to be? Not that she cares. Why does the thought of him even pop up?

She gazes at the clock. It shows 3:45 pm, she needs to go.